Small space gardening

Posts tagged ‘budget gardening’

If you’ve always wanted beautiful window boxes but were afraid of the installation, planter boxes are a DIY-friendly alternative. They’re easy to build, and can be decorated seasonally with non-plant items if you live in a planting zone that doesn’t allow for live plants in the winter. You don’t have to leave them stark and empty in the off-season!

I moved into this house this past winter, and it was in desperate need of some curb appeal. I had all of the half-dead, overgrown trees and bushes removed, and decided to start from scratch. How sad and lonely she looks. Window boxes will cheer this house (and me) right on up!

Unfortunately, I did have a problem with my window box idea. The actual construction of the window boxes wasn’t an issue, but my fear of drilling into my bricks to install them certainly was. And to be honest, I wouldn’t have been all that excited to drill into vinyl siding, wood siding or any other siding for that matter. Thinking about mounting a window box securely enough to handle the weight of the wood, the dirt and the plants made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

So I decided that instead of window boxes, I would make free-standing planter boxes. And when I say free-standing, I mean “$free$”-standing. I recently had a screened porch added to my house (click here to view) and wrestled some of the wood scraps away from my builder. Wood scraps = free planter boxes.

I decided to build the planter boxes so that pots that my son, Ross, gave me a few years ago would fit inside of them. You don’t necessarily have to have pots inside of planter boxes, and if I hadn’t had these already, I probably wouldn’t have bothered to buy some. I would have just lined the boxes with a weed fabric so that dirt wouldn’t seep out of the cracks, and filled them with dirt. These pots have seen better days, but I love them, and they were perfect for putting inside the planters.

I wanted to use treated 4 x 4’s for the legs, but I only had four that were long enough, and I needed eight. I did, however, have some treated 2 x 4’s left from the porch that I decided to double up and use instead. I knew if I ran a bead of caulk where the two boards met, and then painted them out, they would look just like the 4 x 4’s. My goal here was to not buy anything in order to make these planter boxes, so I had to be creative.

The actual sides of the boxes were built using leftover shiplap that was also left over from the screened porch. It was already primed and painted, but I still had to give it another quick coat after I finished assembling the boxes.

I don’t know how long this shiplap will last out in the weather since it’s pine. The primer and exterior paint should protect it for a while, but if it rots after a few years, I can replace it. I’m also hoping that by using pots inside of the boxes, the shiplap will last a little longer since there won’t be wet dirt resting up against it.

Here are my first two sections I put together after measuring how tall and wide I wanted the planters to be. You can see that the section on the right is made up of the sandwiched 2 x 4’s, so I used that section for the back side of the planter.

Here I’ve added a second piece of shiplap.

Since I was too lazy to go to the basement to get my super-duper saw horses that my son, Brandon, got me for Christmas, I just used my cute little Honda Fit (Love that car!) to steady my two sides while I screwed in the end pieces. And yes, I was careful not to scratch the car.

In this photo, you can see that I cut the legs a couple of inches shorter than the finished height because I wanted to be able to rest pieces of wood on top of them. I wanted to be able to decorate these boxes for fall and Christmas using non-plant items like pumpkins, ornaments, birdhouses and such. Wood laid across the tops of the legs would give me a hidden platform to set items on. The pots with the dirt will only be used in the spring and summer for live plants.

Next, I took 2 x 8’s (because that’s what I had on hand–a curb score) and notched out spaces with a jig saw in order to accommodate the legs, and toe-nailed them in from underneath. I chose to leave a space down the center so the water from the drainage holes in my pots would run through onto the ground rather than sit on the wood. If I decide at some point to fill the planters with dirt without the pots, I’ll add another board to complete the bottom.

And it fits! My plan for when my square pots go to pot heaven some day, is to buy pre-potted arrangements and just set the pots inside the planter boxes.

The planters looked a little blah-zay to me so I decided to jazz them up a bit. I had these scraps that were already cut at a 45 degree angle on one end. The 45 inspired me to cut another 45 on the other end, and I tacked them on the front of the boxes to add a little interest. In addition to the 45 degree angle adding some interest, it also helps the rain run off rather than sit on top of the boards.

Can you tell it was getting dark outside? Well, it was, so I did the painting the the next day. I primed the raw wood first, then I painted the primed wood, then painted the whole thing one more time.

I caulked around the decorative pieces and some other areas that I didn’t want water to get into. Some of the 4 x 4 legs had splits in them, so I caulked those, as well as the cracks where I joined the 2 x 4’s for the back legs. Then, a fresh coat of paint. It always amazes me what a fresh coat of paint can do.

I looked through my stash of goodies, and found some white, decorative iron pieces I’d bought a few years ago at Hobby Lobby, and added them to the fronts after rubbing some watered down gray paint on them. And wha-la! Here are my 100% free window box planters!

See what a difference these make for my once sad little house! Before–

After–

And here they are all decorated for fall. I put these together after I realized mums were not happy living in my planter boxes due to lack of sunlight. I had my heart set on mums, but these will do just fine!

And yes, I painted my shutters and gave them some jewelry. Now, for your viewing pleasure, another set of before and after photos!

Before–

After–

Here’s the second planter box. Even the fall pretties I used to decorate with were budget-friendly. I grew the pumpkins myself, the hydrangea were given to me by a friend, and everything else you see in the planter boxes was from my stash or from garage sales.

I like the planters better than window boxes because I can move them to the back yard and fill them with flowers or veggies if I want to. I was also able to make them bigger than most window boxes would have been–a window box this large would have been very heavy. If I get tired of them (fat chance), I can remove them and there’s no damage to the house underneath. And God forbid, if I ever move again, I can take them with me!

This post was written by Tracy Evans, who is a Journeyman Painter, Certified Home Stager/Redesigner and avid gardener. If you have an interest in home organization, DIY home improvement projects or redesign, please feel free to visit her other blog at https://homestagingbloomingtonil.wordpress.com/. You can find additional before and after pictures on her website at http://www.HelpAtHomeStaging.com.

Planting small seeds can be a challenge. And there are lots of seeds in the gardening world that are tiny–lettuce, cabbage, onion and many varieties of flower seeds to name a few. These little guys in the photo are radish seeds, which are also small, and here are some pointers on how to plant them.

Radishes are one of the easiest vegetables to grow. They’re good for beginning gardeners because they germinate easily and mature quickly–only about 22 days from start to finish. They also don’t take up too much space, and other vegetables can be planted in their place after they’ve been harvested.

I’m planting mine in a pot because potting soil is nicer to work with for small seeds, and pests aren’t a problem in a pot. But if you’re planting in the ground, be sure to remove any big clods of dirt, sticks or rocks. You’ll need to break up the soil so you’re planting in fine, clump-free dirt.

Here’s the seed packet I’m using.

The instructions tell exactly how to plant the seeds.

They also tell when to plant according to the particular planting zone you live in. In zone 5, radishes will only grow in the spring and in the fall when the weather is cooler. If the weather gets too hot, radishes can be leathery or the tops can bolt and the radish will remain a skinny root and not develop into a ball.

These seeds are two years old, but they’re going germinate just fine. There’s no need to ever throw away unused seeds. I just stick my leftovers in a closet until the next year. Some gardeners like to refrigerate their leftover seeds, but I’ve never done that and have had no problems getting them to germinate.

There’s no need to dig a bunch of small, half-inch-deep holes, fill each of them with these tiny little seeds and fill each one with dirt. Gardening is supposed to be fun, not an activity that makes you want to tear your hair out. There’s also no need to plant in rows and waste garden space. Instead, seeds can be scattered on top of the soil.

After scattering the seeds, about half-an-inch of soil needs to be spread over the top of them, because the package gives half-an-inch as the seed-planting depth. Next, the soil needs to be firmly pressed down (without moving it around), to give the seeds good soil contact. I use a watering can or a spray bottle to water the seeds. If I were to use a garden hose, the seeds would be splashed all around, and could end up in clumps or on top of the soil for our fine-feathered friends to feast on.

Important tip–you must water the seeds every day in order for them to germinate. Every day. If they don’t stay moist, the seeds are just going to hang out in your garden soil and that’ll be the end of them.

Here are the seedlings after a few days.

As you can see, they’re not perfectly spaced. But while they’re small like this, the crowded seedlings can be carefully dug up and transplanted into bare areas. Or if you don’t have a conscience, you can just pull them out and leave them on top of the ground to shrivel and die. (No pressure.)

They need proper spacing in order to grow, and a sunny location where they receive at least six to eight hours of sun each day. Here are some I planted in actual garden soil a couple of weeks prior.

As radishes grow, the tap root stays down in the soil, but the actual radish grows up and out of the soil. Onions grow the same way. The first time I planted radishes, I kept throwing dirt on them so they wouldn’t die. After seeing that trying to keep them covered was futile, I realized they weren’t going to die, and that’s just how they grow. Hello.

Here’s a pot with a pepper plant in the center, and radishes planted around it. After the radishes are pulled out, the pepper plant will have the pot all to itself and will have plenty of room to grow.

I used the same method of scattering and covering seeds for planting this tray of lettuce.

This method of randomly sprinkling the seeds and adding soil over the top of them, is the best way I’ve found to plant small seeds. I also prefer sprinkling the seeds rather than planting in rows since I have a tiny garden. More seeds can be sown in a smaller area this way, and it’s especially beneficial if you have a container garden. I find that when I plant this way I waste fewer seeds, but end up with more vegetables.

I hope you find this method works for you too. Happy planting!

This post was written by Tracy Evans, who is a certified Home Stager and Redesigner, a journeyman painter and an avid gardener. If you have an interest in home organization, DIY home improvement projects or redesign, please feel free to visit her other blog at https://homestagingbloomingtonil.wordpress.com.

You’ve planted rows of vegetable seeds, and now it’s time to thin your seedlings. If pulling out those precious baby plants makes you queasy, take heart. You no longer have to feel like a serial plant killer.

I’ve been re-planting my throw-aways for a few years now, and with great success. I’ve done this with pretty much every vegetable seedling there is—spinach, radishes, lettuce, green beans and cucumbers to name a few. In this post, I’ll be thinning and re-planting peas.

First let me stress that it’s a total waste of seeds to plant them closer together than what the package recommends. I used to think more is better with seed planting, but it’s not. And I strongly suspect I’m not the only gardener that has over-planted for fear of not having enough seeds germinate. And besides wasting seeds, transplanting your thinnings is another reason not to plant too closely or you won’t be able to get a spade in between the seedlings in order to dig up the ones you want to save.

I also used to plant seeds too close together because what was I going to do with all those leftover seeds anyway? May as well use the whole pack, right? Wrong. I’ve learned that you save the leftovers and plant them the next year. And the next, and the next…I’ve planted seeds four and five years old with no problems. I just stored the packets in a closet. No need to refrigerate them as far as I’m concerned.

So here’s what I’ve got. My peas are ready to be thinned to about four to six inches apart. At the moment, they’re about two inches apart.

If I don’t thin these peas, they’ll be a tangled up mess because the tendrils will grab onto the plant next to them instead of my metal fencing. Then I’ll have a glob of pea plants that are all stuck together independent of the fence. Once that happens, it’s all over. Trust me folks, you need to thin your peas.

I bought these bamboo stakes at a garage sale, and they’re perfect for peas to latch onto.

First, I stick them in the ground where I want my peas to grow. Then at the base of each pole, I remove some of the soil where each seedling will be planted.

I put the excess dirt on this cardboard lid so I can carry it with me.

Now I very gently dig up the extra seedlings by pushing my trowel down into the dirt, three to four inches on each side of the plant, making a square in the soil around each one. Then I dig up the seedling and place it on my cardboard.

I use the excess soil I brought with me from the original holes to fill in each hole I create when I remove the transplants. I push the soil down firmly after I fill each hole with dirt.

Then I plant the seedlings into the original holes. Here they are!

They now have four to six inches of space in between each plant to spread out and grow.

Since peas are considered a cool-weather crop here in zone 5, they’re going to bite the dust when it gets hot. They’ll quit producing, turn brown and be pulled out of the ground by yours truly. The beauty of that is, I can plant them close to other plants that will take over their space when they’re gone. In this case, my tomatoes will grow into their space.

I was fortunate enough to have a cloudy day to do this, which is less stressful for the plants. If the sun is out, it’s best to move them in the morning or evening when it’s cooler. Unfortunately, it’s a windy day (we can’t have everything), so I used some twist ties to very loosely tie the taller transplants to the poles to keep them from flopping over.

Soon enough, the tendrils will grab onto the bamboo and they’ll climb on their own like this little guy is learning to do. FYI – since the tendrils aren’t very long, they need something small to grab onto. Lattice, for example is too large for peas to grasp.

Here are a few other places I moved my transplants to. My front flower bed…

I planted some in a pot with some cucumber seeds that haven’t germinated yet, but will take over after the peas are finished producing.

And in an empty spot near a dwarf lilac bush was another place to plant them.

If you’ve never planted peas, and are considering taking the plunge, I highly recommend the edible pod variety. They’re great for stir-frying if you pick the pods when they’re young and tender, and if you let them grow, the shelled peas are great eaten raw on salads. In zone 5, you’ve got until the end of May to plant them, or you can also plant a fall crop when the weather cools.

Happy thinning!

This post was written by Tracy Evans, who is a certified Home Stager and Redesigner, a journeyman painter and an avid gardener. If you have an interest in home organization, DIY home improvement projects or redesign, please feel free to visit her other blog at https://homestagingbloomingtonil.wordpress.com/. You can find additional before and after pictures on her website at http://www.HelpAtHomeStaging.com.

I’m currently laid off from my job, and am wondering how I’m going to afford flowers for my pots this year. In spite of my layoff, I’m pretty pumped because over the past couple of years, I’ve managed to find some great pots at garage sales for next to nothing. Big ones. Pretty ones. One of these pots was fifty cents. Seriously. God was smiling down on me that day for sure! Unfortunately, the pots I bought were different colors, and didn’t look so great together. But I painted them all the same color last week. Now they look a bit more cohesive, and I can display them all together. Here they are!

So I have some ideas on how to fill these pots, make them look great, not spend much money and have some great-tasting veggies too!

Before I fill my pots, I put some chunks of packing Styrofoam or foam peanuts in the bottom to help with drainage. I’ve read where that’s not really necessary, but it saves on the amount of potting soil I have to buy, and helps keep the pots as lightweight as possible. I had to drill drainage holes in a couple of the lightweight pots that didn’t already have holes in them. I also cut up a piece of screen and duck taped it over the hole to help keep the soil from running out.

It’s a must to invest in some good potting soil. Growing up in a rural area, I find it somewhat amusing that we buy dirt. It’s like buying…air. Dirt is everywhere after all! But if you try to put regular from-the-ground dirt in a pot, you’ll have a brick in no time. I’ve even tried to mix dirt with potting soil when I’ve run out, and that doesn’t work either.

Now my pots are ready for plants. And the cheapest way to grow any kind of plant is to grow it from seed. I know you’re groaning, and I understand the instant gratification of buying something already started for you, but just hear me out. Seeds germinate sooooo quickly, you have a much bigger variety of plants with seeds and any leftovers can be saved for years if you store them in a cool, dry place. So one packet that only costs a couple dollars can provide you with a few years worth of plants.

If you don’t like that idea, here’s another suggestion. I plant rows of lettuce, spinach, radishes, red cabbage, broccoli and so forth in my garden each year. And each year I cringe when I have to thin my seedlings as instructed on the seed packets. Pulling out healthy little plants sends chills up my spine, but if I don’t do it, I know my plants will be too crowded and won’t grow as big as they should.

Well, this year I came up with the idea of recycling the plants I thin out, and putting them into pots to keep from killing the poor little guys, and to fill my pots without spending any extra money at the same time. I won’t even have to use more seeds for goodness sake. I know…seeds are so cheap, so why bother? I say why not bother? It’s something new for me to try, and I consider it a challenge. But if you don’t want to take the time to use your thinned seedlings, you can still plant seeds into your pots and save yourself a lot of money that way too.

If you google information on transplanting seedlings, many sites will say you can’t transplant lettuce, spinach, radish, etc… Well, I’m here to tell you that you certainly can. Recycling your transplants instead of pulling them out and pitching them when you’re thinning, gives you more plants without using more seeds. You just need to do it before they get too big, and develop a long tap root. It’s also a good idea to do it on a cool day so you don’t shock the bejeebers out of them.

Since most of my seeds that I planted in April are for early, cool-season crops, they will only be in the pots for a short time and then will be harvested and eaten. So the main center plant in my larger pots will be a plant that will grow all summer, and will fill the pot on its own after the early plants are gone.

I’ve taken pictures of my three newly painted pots as well as other pots I’ve filled, but keep in mind they’re going to look very different in a month or so (I’m hoping.)

The main plant in this pot that is planted in the center is Red Express cabbage, which is a small-scale cabbage. Even if you squint, I don’t think you can see it in this photo yet. Around the cabbage is spinach, radish and lettuce—all taken from thinings from my garden. If all goes as planned, once the outer plantings are harvested, the head of cabbage will fill the whole pot.

The next pot is a fern I’ve taken from the ground and planted with some stone crop around it. It’ll look great when the stone crop spills over the edges of the pot. This pot was then “free” since these plants were taken from my yard.

This cutie patootie pot just has a few radishes in it. I’ll need to find something else to plant in this after the radishes are finished.

The key to moving radish transplants, or any other transplant for that matter is to make sure you take your trowel down way beneath where you think the plant’s root ends, and then ever-so-gently pull it out of the soil with as much dirt attached to the seedling as possible. I did manage to snap one of my roots on my radishes, and it was a gonner. I suppose one casualty isn’t too bad.

You also need to have a spot ready so you can put it right back into some soil. I’ve done this in the garden soil with lots of success too. You just have to make sure the soil you’re putting the transplant into is nice and fine–no chunks allowed! And of course you have to water very gently right away too. Watering these little babies with a garden hose would be like a tsunami that would surely kill them!

I planted a jalapeno pepper plant in the center of this pot that will grow and produce until the end of the summer. Jalapeno plants are gorgeous with their bright red and green fruits. Almost an ornamental plant! I don’t eat jalapenos, but I freeze them to use in Italian beef. I may try canning a small jar or two this year.

The pepper plant is surrounded by some chives that I thought I had dug up and gotten rid of, a tiny, tiny basil sprout that I again thought I had dug up and it regrew, a couple radishes, lettuce and spinach. The lettuce is both red and green and is going to look great once it gets going. I did try some carrot seeds in this pot too. Nothing like trying to plant a speck of pepper. Man those carrot seeds are tiny! Even I would not try to transplant a carrot! This pot will eventually be left with the pepper plant, the chives and the basil. The other veggies will be harvested at some point, and at the end of the growing season, the chives and the basil will probably be put back in the ground for the winter.

This one has a banana pepper plant in the center. I planted a circle of radish seeds around it that you can see if you look closely. (I ran out of transplants, so I splurged and planted seeds.)

My last large pot has a Roma Window Box tomato plant in the center. I’ve tried planting a tomato plant in a pot only once before, and I wasn’t impressed. But if at first you don’t succeed…Let’s just say I’m hoping I have better luck this time. Surrounding the tomato plant are the same types of cool-weather veggies as are in the other large pots.
Another advantage of putting cool-season veggies in a pot is that on really hot days, the pot can be moved out of the sun during the hottest part of the day if need be to prevent them from bolting and scorching. This way I can extend my growing season a bit.

These window box type planters that my lovely son, Ross, got for me have onion sets in them that I’m hoping will grow into tasty bulb onions. In the past, I’ve only grown green onions, so this is an experiment.

This tiny pot has some colored lettuce in it that was transplanted from my garden. Colored lettuce in a pot is beautiful. I’ve done it before, and it’s just as pretty as coleus or any other colorful, non-flowering plant that you would put in a pot.

This pot doesn’t have a drainage hole in it, so I took stone crop from my yard and stuck it in here. Plants don’t like pots without drainage holes in them, especially glazed ceramic pots like this one because they don’t breathe like clay pots. But stone crop is like a weed—a very cool looking weed, I might add—and I doubt it’ll croak despite the drainage issue.

Here’s a window box that I put inside my porch area that has primrose and creeping jenny.

Yet another pot of freebies from my yard has lamb’s ear, fern and burgundy coral bells. You can’t see the coral bells too well yet in this photo. It’s on the left. I’ll probably add something else to this pot when it gets warmer, but for now it’ll have to stay the way it is.

We’ve had a pretty wet spring so far this year, and as I’m writing this, I’ve moved my pots off my covered porch and out into the rain for some of “God’s water” as my sister calls it. Waaaaay better than the hose stuff.

Food for thought: Even we city folks have insects and bunnies, but pests are another reason to plant in pots. Pest problems are pretty much eliminated in a pot garden. (That didn’t sound so good, did it?) Pest problems are pretty much eliminated in a container garden, let’s say. Weeds–nonexistent. Also, I’m able to plant peppers and tomatoes a bit earlier than normal because if there’s a chance of frost, I can just move them inside my garage or my porch. You can also get creative with the type of containers you choose to plant in. You can use just about anything that can hold dirt and has holes for drainage.

If you can’t commit to daily watering, pots may not be for you. But if your heart desires fresh veggies in the summer time, and you have no earth of your own to dig in, and you’re sick to death of hearing about all the chemicals that are sprayed on our food, this may be your answer. There are many hybrids of tomatoes and other vegetables that are now made more compact specifically to be planted in pots for us urbanites.

Since probably 90% of my pots and gardening tools are from yard sales, I say hit some garage sales, buy some seeds and soil and you’ve got yourself an inexpensive garden!

If you have an interest in decorating, home organization or DIY home improvement projects, please feel free to check my other blog at HomeStagingBloomingtonIl. You can find additional before and after pictures on my website at www.HelpAtHomeStaging.com.

This blog was written by Tracy Evans who is a Certified Home Stager, Certified Redesigner and a Journeyman Painter servicing the Bloomington/Normal, IL area. You can view her portfolios at www.HelpAtHomeStaging.com for more before and after photos.